President-Elect Joe Biden's Statewide Victory Carried By Strong Showing In Allegheny County And Small Gains In Surrounding Areas
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- President-elect Joe Biden has extended his lead over President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania.
It's now up to 53,000 votes, and this region was key to Biden's victory.
Eight years ago, Barack Obama won Allegheny County by 90,000 votes. Four years later, Hillary Clinton won the county by 108,000 votes.
This year, Joe Biden leads Donald Trump by 146,000 votes, enough to give Biden the win statewide.
"Donald Trump only won the state of Pennsylvania by 44,000 votes in 2016. So Allegheny County, more or less, erased Donald Trump's lead from 2016," says Mike Mikus, a local Democratic political strategist.
Biden -- by announcing his campaign in Lawrenceville, campaigning in Westmoreland and Beaver counties, and ending his campaign at Heinz Field -- targeted this region, and it paid off.
"Southwestern Pennsylvania, both Allegheny County with its big margin and the small improvements surrounding Allegheny County, delivered the margin of victory for Joe Biden," notes Mikus.
In contrast, so far, Biden is doing no better in Philadelphia than Clinton did and much worse than Obama did.
"Donald Trump improved on his numbers by a few percent in Philadelphia," says Mikus.
Trump did better in some African American districts in both Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Republican political analyst Lenny McAllister credits Trump with making a pitch for Black votes.
"We live in one of the most livable cities for Whites and one of the worst cities in America for Blacks, but that's all the same Pittsburgh. And a lot of that is being driven by Democrats 100 percent of the time," says McAllister.
"And African American voters are saying, look, we need a higher level of accountability or else we will vote differently," he added.
"It was more likely that it was a Black male voter who voted for Donald Trump than a Black female," says Amanda Green-Hawkins, a Democratic political analyst and a Biden delegate.
She says Trump did target a message to Black males, but 92 percent of all Blacks voted for Biden.
Green-Hawkins is not surprised this region and voters of all races were key to Biden's victory.
"People are really voting for themselves, and the future that they see," she said.